One of the paradoxes of Ukrainian politics is how the same people who just recently criticized the Ukrainian government for complying with the “defeatist” Minsk agreements, for not liberating the occupied Ukrainian territories, and for agreeing with Putin’s logic, are now voicing completely opposite claims.
In the media — not only Western but also Ukrainian — there is outrage that the Ukrainian side is “provoking” the situation in Avdiivka, that Kyiv itself is forcing Russian troops to respond to Ukrainian actions, and that this will give Putin the opportunity for a new offensive.
This is the logic even in the respectable German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and among hysterical bloggers who use any excuse to put forth theories about the government’s “betrayal.” Earlier, the authorities betrayed by not advancing. Now they are betraying because they are advancing. They did not advance because they feared Putin, and, besides, the situation of “neither war nor peace” was advantageous for Poroshenko. Now they are advancing because they fear possible agreements between Putin and Trump, and because the war, supposedly, is now favorable for Poroshenko.
In fact, this is also Putin’s logic — logic that always ends with accusations against the Ukrainian state and government. This is the logic of provocation and destruction that has been adopted by Russian propaganda. This logic is quite acceptable to those in Western media who consider Russia’s attack on Ukraine simply an annoying obstacle to continued earnings in the Russian energy market.
These people are scum for whom a drop of oil will always be dearer than a drop of blood, who do not understand why we are resisting instead of establishing a regime pleasing to Putin in our own country .
This logic is easily adopted by political opportunists, for whom any action by the government is a pretext for accusations of corruption, extortion, and incompetence. And which provides the opportunity to talk about early elections, after which the real patriots and the selfless would enter government.
These people have no clue that this position leads only to the collapse of the state as such. Some of them have already lost the war in their own country and now, hysterically, are trying to destroy someone else’s country.
This logic is willingly adopted by the “useful idiots,” who are always ready to throw rocks at the government in order to generate another “like” in social networks.
I have no doubt that their theses about the mistakes in reforms and the corruption in the government are absolutely correct. However, the fight against corruption and reformist zeal must not be a pretext to weaken the state. If the state collapses, it will make no difference if it is corrupt or not. And for it to survive, it must win the war.
More precisely, you and I must win the war. Because this is not the state’s war; it is the people’s war.
This is why I do not accept the logic of the cynical media with their false standards. I do not accept the logic of political opportunists who are ready to give up their homeland for the sake of a position. I do not accept the logic of the “useful idiots.” I recognize only one logic — the logic of patriotism.
If we respond to Russia’s provocations and defend the liberated territories, then we deserve honor and praise. If we try to use the actual pause in the peace process in order to free at least a small segment of territory from occupation, this is success as well.
Success is any action aimed at weakening the enemy’s position. The ratings of “well-wishers” in this situation are meaningless. The political circumstances are irrelevant. Even the hysterics in social networks, who often merge into one muddy stream with the flow of Russian propaganda, do not matter. The only thing that matters is our future victory.
